Breathing Happy

I haven't seen a movie move me in quite a while- Having a family member struggle with addiction- it hit home.

The entire cast was great! It was genuinely portrayed and raw.

Dylan Bradley- (Shane Brady)I loathed you, then felt sorry for you, I cried for and with you. You made me understand some of an addicts pain.

Briana Bradley- (Brittney Escalante) sister you hit a homerun with your portrayal in your sister/addict relationship and daughter/family relationship. You were authentic and spectacular-

Again the cast was great- everyone was genuine in their rolls.

I didn't expect to cry- yet I did. I'll watch again, this time with Kleenex in tow.

I saw this at FilmQuest 2022 it was hands down my personal favorite film of the fest. It's heartbreaking, but heartwarming, it's weird, but so simple, it's a little scary, but also so so funny. Great cinema doesn't need a huge budget and a huge cast -- just a great script, great acting and some filmmaking magic. Highly recommend this one!

The film deals with addiction and family and how those two intersect and bump into each other so often, and yes those topics and intersections can sometimes be triggering, but this film has a lot of honesty wrapped in some absurd and hilarious mind-warps and you are gonna love the film, and never look at the doors in your house the same way again!

It is a little disturbing to revisit demons that plague you when it comes to addiction. With that said, it is always important to never forget where you have come from. The movie is well done and served up with just the right touch of clever wit and humor to keep you watching.

As a recovering addict, I wonder how this movie would have affected me at the beginning of my journey. I think that it would have helped me see that I was not alone while trying to find my way through all of the guilt and shame from damage done.

I would like to see this offered at treatment centers. I think it would be interesting to help folks open up topics for discussion and thought.

I've read that this is a movie whose main demographic should be addicts and recovering addicts... and while this film may offer unique insight for those groups, I am in neither, and thought this was brilliant and groundbreaking. It is a mindbending look inside the brain and life of a recovering addict as he nears a sobriety milestone, and it is filled with humanity, regret, familial crises, and sadness... yet at the same time shows a world of hope, a sense of humor, and a dogged determination to beat addiction.

Wildly creative, frenetically paced, and vibrantly shot, it is filled with sharp dialogue, hallucinations, magic, and trauma, and probably paints a realistic picture of the struggle for sobriety in the face of immense personal tragedy. I thought it was terrific. Huge props to Shane Brady for writing, directing, editing, and starring in this unique and fascinating film.

Full disclosure, I am the Director of Photography for this film. My company also graded it, conformed it (with all its crazy formats), did some VFX, and finished it. As filmmakers, we sometimes spend tremendous amounts of time on indie projects like this, ending with much left to be desired. However, that wasn't the case with Breathing Happy. So, I wanted to shed some light on why I find this one of the most exceptional films I've been privileged enough to be a part of.

While the script seemed very ambitious for the amount of time we had to shoot as is pretty much always the case (just 15 days), it became apparent to me on day 1 that Shane would turn this into something marvelous. We shot the scene with the veterinarian, who happens to be Shane's brother, a non-actor. The performance Shane was able to drive out of him and the dog no less, while giving it all himself, solidified that I was working with a gifted filmmaker with all sorts of tricks up his sleeve.

The second week of filming saw the likes of young actors Owen Atlas, Evee White, and Mia Castillo as well as older versions of siblings and family members Brittaney Escalante, Augie Duke, Katelyn Nacon, June Carryl, and John D'Aquino. Their performances were all an inspiration to my work and I would walk away from the set each day knowing that this film was going to be special. Everyone rose above "A game", including the crew who are all my close friends, in an effort to craft a piece of magic that only forms when you truly love what you are doing and the people you are creating with.

With all of those perfect cards, Shane took the traditional, weighty, moody, and often stuffy addiction drama and transformed it, through some of the best indie film editing I've ever seen, into an fascinating tale of temptation, loss, loneliness and the hope for redemption. Hitting you from all angles, bringing you the highest of highs, the lowest of lows, and even switching the narrative format on its side from time to time. Breathing Happy is a true testament to Shane's mastery of sleight-of-hand in that it is both a harrowing and charming story that excels in making you feel a gamut of emotions, very deeply, through every fibre of your being.